Cops & Robbers
by AGoodnight
Summary: She's starting to think that his attempts to foil her robberies are really just his way of flirting. Or she would, if he wasn't so determined to see her behind bars. The Trebles as Barden P.D, and the Bellas as a Thieves Guild. An AU in four shots.


**A/N: Ha, so it's been well over a month since you've heard from me. Please know that I don't do these breaks on purpose, I just suffer from real life, a condition that demands a lot of my attention. I thought about adding this to Source Music, but Source Music is mostly canon compliant, while this set of one-shots (it will be at least a four-shot) are a complete AU. Hopefully, if you like Source Music and MFTMP, you'll like these ones too. **

**Yes, I will update MFTMP, in fact I'm going to update it tomorrow (maybe Monday at the latest since I have to make revisions). **

**Enjoy, and excuse any errors as it is unbeta'd. Thank you!**

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The first time he catches up with her, she has a curse on her lips, and a feeble grip on the long string of pearls that she'd just snatched from the display window of the upscale jewelry store on 9th and Dawson.

There's a wide arc of light before she suddenly can't see, the shadow of her silhouette thrown onto the brick wall behind her with the steady beam of his flashlight.

She can't see him -can't see anything really-and there's an odd pause where the expected You're under arrest doesn't come.

"Officer," she exhales instead, an insolent toss of her dark curls as she brings a hand up to block what light she can. The hand barely grasping onto the necklace is clenched tightly behind her back. "Mind pointing that flashlight down? My retinas get the message."

The light doesn't waver, but she hears him come closer to her. Amateur.

"Can't" comes the deep voice, and her brow furrows at the sound because if she's not mistaken, he sounds like he's grinning. "That goes against the rules Miss."

One of her brows arches past the thick black of her domino mask. Which, let's be clear on this okay? Beca was not a fan of the domino mask. Who the hell wanted to glue a mask to their face every night they decided for a little fun? No one. No one did, and that's what Beca had been telling Aubrey since the domineering blonde had informed her that it was the small eye mask or plastic surgery, because if she wanted to operate with the Bellas she had to get her shit together. Beca had made the mistake of sarcastically offering to just increase the layers of black eyeliner, and paid the price. It had taken 3 seconds flat for Aubrey to vault over the table with the mask in hand. Psycho barbie had pinned Beca to the ground, hand practically smashing the black fabric to her face until the glue had set.

"That's cute," she drawls, "rules for acting like a total dick?"

"'How not to aid a criminal in escape, actually," oh yea, she can definitely hear how pleased he sounds. "I'm under no assumption that you won't beat the shit out of me once the light isn't blinding you. I've seen this movie before."

Beca smiles at that a bit, but lets it slide into a smirk, lest he see. "A smart cop, colour me shocked." She shifts, the light beginning to become unbearable in her face. She didn't have time for this. The alarm hadn't gone off, so she'd only been unlucky enough to make the snatch when an officer was in the area. With or without this light blinding her, she could pin him underneath her dependable leather boots in 4 seconds flat. Her patience was waning, and her hunger pains were growing. She had a frozen pizza waiting for her.

"And colour _me_ impressed. You make that grab without tripping the lasers?" he sounds sincerely intrigued, a tone she was not used to when dealing with Barden law enforcement. Who the hell was this guy, hell was he even a cop? She tries to squint at him through the lights, but is only able to make out the vague line of broad shoulders.

"Lasers? Have you stumbled into a science fiction movie nerd? the only thing that I've grabbed tonight is a cup of coffee on a long and formerly peaceful walk home." She flashes him a sneer so he gets her annoyance. "Can you get that fucking thing off of me?"

Surprisingly, he does, the beam of light suddenly comes at her from the right side of her face, illuminating her from above instead of head on. She blinks her eyesight back, not so much of a glare on the now revealed figure of a man, but rather an uncomfortable squint as she reorients herself.

It was a cop, a handsome one too, if she can allow herself to appreciate the fine cut of jaw and the dark wavy hair. He has the hand with the flashlight raised slightly as he looks at her, a strange smile on his face. The fuck was he looking at?

"Better?"

"Much," she parries back with a snide smile. She's grown tired of this. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm not really into this whole voyeur power kink you've got going for you. But uh," she winks and watches his eyes on hers, dark and infuriatingly amused. "Thanks for the quickie."

He doesn't move, doesn't make any motion to stop her or cut the bullshit (and let's be honest, it was obvious bullshit, how many innocent young women walked home in full skin tight black leather and domino masks? Not many, she'd wager.)

"Sure, just after you give that back."

"What," she plays stupid.

He says nothing but inclines his chin slightly to her left. Confused, Beca furrows her brow at him before looking over her left shoulder where the perfectly outlined shadow of her silhouette awaits her. The perfectly outlined grip she has on what is very obvious some kind of jewelry is also casted like a movie on the wall beside them.

That smug fucker.

She snaps her head to him, his eyes now more wary but no less amused as her appraising glare reaches him. She'd walked right into that one.

"You little shit."

"Anyone ever tell you that you're a bit of a sore loser?" he questions, hip cocked as he relaxes his hold on the flashlight, no further need for his clever theatrics. Her lip curls in annoyance, mostly towards herself.

"Loser?" Beca scoffs, and even laughs a little as she brings her arm back from her side. The pearls gleam in the semi-darkness, enough that they catch his eye as she dangles them up for him to see better. "I don't call 250K of oyster shit exactly a loss."

He makes a face at her choice of wording, and a bubble of incredulous laughter escapes that pretty mouth.

"You're not really familiar with the whole cops and robbers thing, are you?," he shakes his head ruefully, and to her surprise steps closer. "Cop," he points to himself, "catches robber," points over to her, flashlight still steady on the side of her face. "Robber goes to jail, and cop gets a nice commendation or at the very least," and here he has the gall to wink at her, "a sprinkle donut."

She is thoroughly unimpressed.

"Gee," she deadpans, tired of this game that they were playing, and if she's honest with herself, a little suspicious of his approach to the whole situation. Law enforcement rarely spent the time trading clever quips when they were trying to make an arrest. He was an idiot, to be frank.

"Do you think that you can write that down for me? It's always in one ear and out the other," her smile is more of a grimace as she tightens it against her face.

He just smiles again, though it's smaller this time. Because he's close enough now,she can smell the aftershave he uses, an indication that this whole situation was going to get out of control pretty fast.

"If you want these?" she lets the pearls sway in front of her face for a moment before her other hand grips the latch and the pearls are pulled across her throat. She keeps her eyes trained on him while she fastens the clasp against the nape of her neck, the pearls disappearing amidst the waves of her dark hair. "Come and get them."

"Is that an invitation?" he parries back, unfettered by her threat.

"Don't tell me you need it in writing," she challenges.

He bites into his lip, but is smart enough not to take his eyes off of her. Well, look at that hesitation she thinks, smug. Good, he was figuring out who he was deali-

Hot cop's hand shoots out with reflexes that couldn't possible be human, and he manages a strong grip on her wrist, enough that she stumbles forward when he yanks her to him.

"Oh," she hisses, instincts quick to kick in as she uses the momentum of her forward pitch to lock her leg around his. "Wrong move nerd."

She jerks her leg hard, and takes the weight out from under him, enough that he barely has time to muffle a grunt before they both hit the ground hard. On top of him, she pins her knee right against his groin and smiles.

"That was pathetic."

Beca watches as hot cop grimaces against what she can only assume is an incredibly uncomfortable pressure at his crotch, but wisely makes no movement otherwise. Smart cookie, lest she castrate him right then and there. The pearls glint mockingly at the lovely swell of her throat, and he seems almost transfixed at the sight.

"It went a little differently in my head," he concedes beneath her, and she can hear his breath catch when she presses her knee just slightly higher against his pelvic bone. He grunts, eyes flashing to hers with an unimpressed purse to his lips. "Though I've had a few fantasies that started this way-_ow, ow, okay_!"

Beca's smile twists, but she mercifully moves her knee and brings both legs alongside his hips. He seems momentarily surprised by the change in position, as his legs are now free.

Seeing his confusion but noting that he doesn't make a sudden move to flip their positions, Beca leans forward, and with the handcuffs she'd palmed from his belt in their tussle, she slaps them gamely onto the wrist she had pinned above his head. He sucks in a sharp breath under her when she attaches the second to a nearby fire escape, and exhales it comically slow.

"You're not even trying," she chuckles, a throaty laugh that has her grinning wide. This was ridiculous, but my god was it putting her in a good mood. She kind of...liked this guy. He was adorable in a useless sort of way, not to mention that he was easy on the eyes. Stealing things had gotten kind of dull in the last week or so, silent alarms and trip lasers were kind of old news for a professional art thief, you know?

The hot cop had tripped her up a bit, she could admit that. It wasn't something that ever happened really, so she could appreciate the small curve ball for what it was. How disappointing that he wasn't giving her more of a run for her money though.

Alas.

"Okay," the man says, not at all perturbed by the fact that a criminal has handcuffed him with his own damn handcuffs, or that she was still settled heavily on his hips. "I'm starting to doubt the reality of this situation because there were definitely handcuffs in my fantasy."

"If your fantasies involve getting your ass thoroughly handed to you by someone half your size then you're living the dream," she pats his cheek before climbing off of him, and watches warily as he awkwardly sits up after her, but remains seated on the pavement.

"You're under arrest, you realize," he calls to her, watching her back away from him with overly careless steps. "I mean, I can see how you wouldn't think so with the whole," he gestures lamely to his own position, handcuffed to a metal bar, and to her who is very much free of similar confinement.

"Role reversal?" Beca finishes for him, fingering the pearls with a mocking glint to her eye, that catches a slow eyeroll from him. He's not at all bothered by any of this, he's making that painfully clear to her, and she kind of wonders why.

"You're an odd duck," she says more softly, confused as she watches him carefully from her position towering over him. He shrugs a little, still smiling, and it leaves her a little uncertain.

"Okay well," she begins to back away again, checking to make sure that he hadn't magically pulled the pearls off of her or something, because man why was he smiling like that? "I've got a pizza to defrost, and it looks like you might be here for a while."

"Don't you think pearls are a bit too fancy for frozen pizza?" he tries, like a last ditch effort, with none of the actual effort. She can tell.

"I'm an unconventional girl!" she calls over her shoulder, determined to extricate herself from the situation as she should have done when he'd first flashed that flashlight into her eyes.

"That's an understatement," she can hear him mutter under his breath, and the comment makes her lip curl up at the side a little as she slips back into the shadows, the heel of her boots making a steady rhythm as they crush the gravel beneath her.

She likes to think that she brushes off the whole hiccup with the hot cop as carelessly as she does when she's given direct orders from Aubrey. She also likes to think that she'll never see him again.

She'd be wrong.

The tracking mechanism he'd slid into the fold of her leather jacket sleeve when she'd been busy trying to castrate him, would make sure of it.

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**Note: Let me know what you think, and I will surely continue. You can also message me over at my tumblr : map-it-out**


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